Tom Rice voted his conscience, why do other Republicans attack like sharks?
In another time, mainstream South Carolina Republicans largely would accept that U.S. Rep. Tom Rice voted his conscience on a second impeachment of Donald J. Trump.
In another time, elected officials and voters – Democratic, Independent, Republican – could accept that the representative from the 7th S.C. Congressional District could, on constitutional principle, join only nine other House Republicans in voting for impeachment.
In this time, perhaps fueled in part by the stress of the coronavirus pandemic, Republican officials across the district, including Horry County, voted to censure the five-term congressman from Myrtle Beach. Go figure. Across the nation, Republicans are attacking one another like sharks after prey.
Not so long ago, the Republican Party stood for individual character, truthfulness, putting the Constitution and the nation before the party. Trump’s disregard for decency is the root cause for the formation of organizations such as the Lincoln Project.
ACCOUNTABILITY?
In another time, more than 10 Republicans would have supported impeachment, given the well-documented statements Trump made at an event he helped set up, the Jan. 6 rally in Washington which became a violent attack on the U.S. Capitol while representatives and senators were certifying for a final time the election of President Joe Biden.
Trump recklessly and falsely claimed the election was stolen from him, notwithstanding dozens of court decisions upholding the results of Nov. 3 and in the Electoral College. Last week, Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died from injuries suffered on Jan. 6, was honored in the Capitol.
Politicians like Lindsey Graham, claiming the nation should “move on” with a quick trial, seem unmoved by the loss of life resulting from the Jan. 6 attack. At issue this week is accountability – pursuit of justice – which Graham and far too many others fail to acknowledge.
An impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate is scheduled this week. Senators will be the jury. With the Senate split 50-50 by political party, 17 Republican and all 50 Democratic senators’ votes (a two-thirds majority) are required for conviction. Then a simple majority vote could ban Trump from holding office.
GOP PREDICAMENT
The Republican dilemma is Trump. Party leaders know the depth of grassroots Trump support. “We can’t pretend he doesn’t exist, that will blow up in our face,” Shannon Grady of the Horry GOP told The Sun News. “But we can’t put all our eggs in one basket. We have work to do.”
Indeed. GOP leaders in all states, especially red ones, must carefully examine their ongoing support of Trump, his lies and deceit, including the bogus claim that the election was stolen.
As in other red states, S.C. Republicans are split. Two Horry County elected Republicans (school board chairman Ken Richardson and S.C. Rep. William Bailey) may oppose Rice in the 2022 Republican primary. In Bailey’s announcement of an exploratory committee, he called for “a strong conservative voice in Washington” and claimed “It’s now obvious to everyone that we do not have that voice.” Say what? It is ridiculous to paint Rice as anything but conservative. Rice has consistently supported Trump and performed as one would expect of a Horry County, S.C., Republican.
Dreama Purdue, co-chair of the Horry County Republican Party, said of Rice’s vote to impeach, “We are for President Trump and when someone does something like that against the president everyone is up in arms.” To a party leader like Purdue, “everyone” means Trump Republicans. Two-thirds of several thousand phone calls to Rice were from people upset about his vote. Two-thirds is not surprising, and perhaps not as significant as the thousands of folks who supported the vote to impeach.
Americans generally have short memories, and have been politically forgiving, as reflected in “The United States of Amnesia.” That may well apply to the political future of Tom Rice.